AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Up a short span of stairs, the great door hung open, daring them to cross to the other side.
They watched and waited, and nothing rushed out to greet them with gleaming steel or bared teeth.
“Maybe they’re not home?” offered Miniver.
“I’ll find out,” said Daemona as she ported to the doorway and looked inside. It was very dark inside, but a few fading sunbeams lit up chambers farther in. Cobwebs and dust as well as a few leaves were scattered within the entryway. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been here for a very long time.”
Ghul Lykos proclaimed, “We have to search it from top to bottom to be sure. I’m convinced that Princess Sykaryn, and possibly Princess Tamar, are held prisoner inside.” He swung his sword and dagger.
“All right then I guess we better go in,” said Daemona.
They all entered through the door, and it slammed shut behind them.
***
Lightning flashed, giving them a hint of the massive interior chambers. Covering the walls were old tapestries from the elder days of triumph. Bookcases with moldering tomes lined the other open spots while dusty silken divans were spread throughout as if this place once expected to host large dinner parties.
“Was that the wind? Did it slam the door shut?” asked Ivy.
“I felt no wind,” said Ghul Lykos. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“I guess we’re committed,” said Daemona.
Fumbling through the dark, they found candles and lit them to push back the claustrophobic gloom. They ventured further into the manor and soon found themselves at a crossroads of sorts. Stairs led up, stairs led down, and another hallway continued.
“We best hurry,” said Ghul Lykos.
“How do you suggest we do that?” asked Daemona.
“Ivy and I should go down, that is the likeliest place a prisoner like Sykaryn will be kept, you two search the ground floor, and you, Daemona, go look upstairs.”
Miniver and Esmerelda looked to each other. “We’d feel better all sticking together,” he said.
“The sooner we get this done and get out, the better. You two stay here, I don’t want you walking into any traps like the rest of us.”
“I’m with Miniver for once,” said Daemona. “Seems awful dangerous splitting up. Harlin meant for us to stick together.”
Ghul Lykos grimaced. “All right then. We stay together, but I think this would go faster my way.”
They continued as a group, searching through the rooms on the ground floor, finding nothing of interest, just molded furniture and rotting books. Rats fled from the light, but beyond the vermin there was nothing.
“Now we should look upstairs and down,” said Ghul Lykos.
Miniver hesitated and said, “Maybe now, me and the girl should stay here and keep watch. You two go on downstairs and Daemona can look up there.”
“By myself?”
Ghul Lykos cracked a smile and said, “You are the most capable of escaping anything that is thrown at you.”
“True, but that doesn’t mean I should have to.”
Ivy offered, “You still have Harlin with you, don’t you?”
She popped open the satchel and looked down at miserable Harlin.
“Ribbit.”
“He’s fine, but you cannot count us as two.”
